III lit!

' H I STORY Of THE TOWN

I f OM GYULAMONOSTORA
I

GYULA SPA

Although later - over millions of years - as a result

of tectanic processes the area was filled and transformed into a lowland, we can still distinguish
lIlIIIllY, but behind the country borders as weil.
between two quite different regions today: ln the
111'\\1ver, it is more than just a spa town. It used
sothern part of the county, southwards from
III I'j' Ihe center of Bks county for 500 years, and
Bkscsaba, "Bkscsandi-ht" (BeKscsand Table1I1111'1tlreits rich historical past had created perland) can be found without any rivers of consider11I111l'1l1sights in the town, and Gyula has a vivid
abJe size, in the northern part, 20 metres
I"' .1'1l1as weil. We're constantly hearing
deeper, on the other hand, "Krsvide'k"
t1"'lIllhc town.
(Regions of the Krses) lies with a lot of
l \111travel guide is trying to present this
rivers. There are plenty of them: the
III lilit 'ss to the Reader and make the
Fehr (White) Krs, Fekete (Black)
11\ sp 'nt here memorable.
Krs, Sebes (Fast-Flowing)- Krs,
1111111'south east of the country, 220
after their running together the Ketts
I J1l1llldres from the capital. Gyula is
(Double)- and Hrmas (Triple) Krs,
IIIII\~ for its visitors with the unfornot to mention the River Beretty.
l' 1I.II11eambience of smalllowland
Gyula is lying on the border of these
111\ IlS, There is a huge stretch ofland as
two zones, on the bank of the Fehr
III dS the eye can see with anamazingKrs, the most southern river of
I lit h history. 7000 metres deep under
1111IIiwn there is an ancient mountain
SCYTHIANURNFROMGYULA, "Krsvidk" . Owing to that the
Ih,i1 hradually rises southwards. At
FROM5TH-6TH CENTURJESBe. town is still surrounded
with a
wood of a considerable size on 7406
I 11I11nya,barely 40 kilometres away,
hectares.
tlu "peak" ofthe mountain is only
II~~I kilometres from the ground. That is, millions of
\' ,liS ago there was a mountain
as high as the HimaII .IS with 6000 kilometres of difference in level.
, VI il" - spa town. The town having

33.000

Irnhabitants is known like this ali around the

BRONZE-CASTBRACELET
FROMTHECROUNDOF GYULABRICKYARD,10TH CENTURY

oI!'lIlA FIBULAPAIRFROM
,\II.AVRI, FROMTHE
II tlND THIRDOF THE5TH
II NIURY

GEPIDARBULAPAIRFROM
THE BANKSOF KRS,
GYULAAREA,LASTTHIRD
OF THE5TH CENTURY

IIASEOF GYULA'SMEDlEVALCASTLEIN TRKZUC

GEPIDABUCKLEFROMTHEFIRSTHALFOF THE6TH CENTURY,GYULAVARSND-LAPOSHALOM

17

-FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

TO GYULA SPA

GOLDPLATED
BRONZE
BELTMOUNTlNG
FROMTHE
GROUNDS
OFGYULABRICK-YARD,
10THCENTURY

BYZANTlNE-STYLE
FERETORY
PECTORAL
CROSSDEPICTINGTHECRUCIFIED
CHRIST,FROMGYULAFROMTHE
10TH-llTHCENTURlES
FROM THE PREHISTORIC AGE
TO GYULAMONOSTOR

Water in the vicinity of hwnan settlements is indispensable. The same applies to higher relieves
defending people from floeds. The region that later
became the site of Gyula, was suitable for prehistoric man to settle since there were higher lands void
of floods. Some of these areas were today' s town
center, the site of the Parish Church, the "Klvriadl", "Sndorhegy", "Aranyg", 'Trkzug"
and the neighborhood of the sand mines. The first
mention of a man appearing in the

GOLDPLATED
SILVER
BRAID-CIRCLETS
FROMTHE
GROUNDS
OFGYULABRlCK-YARD,
10THCENTURY

18

region was around the year 5000 Be, during

the NeoUthic Age. From that time on, the
presence of human life on the higher parts
of the town's environs was uninterrupted
until rpd' SConquest of Hungary. As we
don't know the name of the Neolithic man,
the earliest period of this era was given the name
'Krs-culture' by archeologists based on its most
important site. This continued at the end of the
Neolithic Age as 'Tisza-culture.

IllllEX OFIMREPARlSHPRJESTOFGYULAFROM1454
FIRSTCERTJFICATIONAL
PRESENTATJON
OFGYULA
FROM

BB

One of the country's biggest early Copper Age

remains have recently been discovered exactly here,
in the Small-Delta of rivers 'Fehr' (White) and
'Fekete' (Black) Krs. The findings belong to the
cultural cm ter of Bodrogkeresztr (4000-3500BC). The
continuity is proved by findings from the Bronze
and !ron Age.
The first known people, the Scythians finally appeared in the Iron Age. Remains belenging to the
lndo-Germanic Celts were found from the last centuries before Christ. During the migration period,
Sannatians - related to the Scythians - arrived here
around 50 Be. Their presence here had lasted for
hundreds of years and they were replaced by different migrating German peoples: Vandals, Gothic
people and Gepids - who gat under the control of
the Huns under Attila. Their rich remains were
found right within the current territory of the
town. Later the Avars lived in this region as far
as unti! rpd's Conquest of Hungary.
Hungarian Gesta telis the history of the Hungarian Conquest. It was written in about 1200 by
Anonymus, the King' s notary called so since he
had no name. His detailed description of the region

1'lllVCSthat he knew it quite weIl. Still, we must not

.uu-pt everything he wrote without reservation.

Ihl' presence of the Hungarians was proven by the

ruulnineteenth century excavation of an equestrian
hllli,,1place dating back to the time ofthe Hungar1,111

'onquest

l'ItOM GYULAMONOSTOR TO THE TURKISH

'CUPATlON (1313-1566)

( l(

Illi' first mention of Gyula was found in two of

IllIhcrt Kroly's docwnents dating back to 1313.
\ IIL'rruling for 300 years the rpd dynasty died
11111 (1301).After the struggles for the throne, Rbert
I .troly (King of Hungary 1308-1342)from Naples
1111111 the House of Anjou became more powerful
,llld he also wanted to be the King of Hungary
11,1','d on a female descendant. (The mother of
I'llbcrt Kroly was the daughter of Rudolf
Ildb burg. However, Rudolfs mother was a HunF"lri,n princess and this is why they could consider
Ihem elves eligible successors for the Hungarian
Ihmnc.)He, however, carried on a fight against
l'I'lly monarchs for the throne and was supported
IlYthe southern regions. During one of his stays
rn Ihe south in [une, 1313 he dated two diplomas
111Cyulamonostor (Tulamonustra"). These prove

TO GYULA SPA

that there used to be a monastery on site of the

town. The name "Gyula" first appears two decades
later, in 1332.There are two theories conceming its
origin. According to
the first one, the tribe
lead by the military
leader of the first
"Magyar" settlers of
Hungary (the "gyula") settled down
there. The second
version, the generally
accepted one, is much
more probable.lt
says that a nobleman
called Gyula was
the founder of the
monastery, and later
the settlement was
named after hm.
It must have been
DUKEJNosCORVIN
Rbert Kroly who set (1473-1504)
up Gyula Domain, that
played a great part in the rise of the small settlement. After the House of the Anjou died out, Sigismund of Luxembourg (King of Hungary 1387-1437;
the son of Cermn-Roman Emperor Charles IV;
the husband of Queen Maria, the granddaughter
of Rbert Kroly and the successor of the throne)
succeeded to the throne and he endowed the Macs
Ban, Jnos Marti, with it and further increased its
area. In 1418 already 73 settlements belonged to it
and was ruled from three market-towns: Gyula,
Bks and Simnd.

KINGMTYS(1458-1490), PROPRIETOR
OFTHE
LORDSHIP
OFGYULABETWEEN
1476-1482

19

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR
('\'Iild

Iillt/,iI/t'dt/

'Nldlll'd

III

dt'I'l'i1l1' lillll d /0((111

1111'/./lilll'lIllll . 1~lIhl'11"Mili gJ'dlltl'd ils first royal

10dl"l jlldges and magish'ates,
.is well ,lS, Ih 'highly important right of 1l0lding
Iars. Jno Marti also ga ve privileges to Gyula,
The t wn was allowed to collect its own taxes, sit
in judgement on its own citizens and Sigismund
exempted its citizens from taxaron. That is not alj
Marti did for the rise of tOWJl.During his reign
Franciscan friars settled down and the building of
the castle started,
Ili ivill'I-\l'S:Ih 'light

ln 1476 the Marti family died out and the Domain

reverted to the crown. King Mtys 0458-1490)
endowed his son John Corvin with it along with
his other properties in order to further ensure the
Prince' s Succession to tlle throne. His order of 1484
setting up lord-lieutenancy, deputy-lieutenancy and
district administration in Gyula served the sarne
purpose and made it the county seat for almost 500
years, untill950,
The beginning of the 16th century, however, brought

ll)

TO GYULA SPA

ill

forth a chain of tragedies in the Hunyadi family. In

1504Jnos Corvin died in the Szermsg, A year
later his son, Kristf also passed away. Erzsbet,
THETURKlSHARMYUNDERGYULACASTLEIN 1566
his daughter, died in Gyula in 1508 and two years
1526when Sultan Suleiman (the Magnificent) atlater, in 1510,the same happened to Beatrice
tempted to conquer the courttry Though the Turks
Frangepan her mother. King Mtys' family died
defeated the Hungarians in the battle of Mohcs,
out. The estate was inherited by her second
they still decided to evacuate the country afhusband, the Marquis of Brandenburg,
Gyrgy HohenzolJem.
ter the battle and returned home, Tragedy
Ouring the time of the great European
came about when the Hungarian noblpcasant uprisings, in May, 1514Gyrgy
ity chose two kings mstead of choosing
Dzsa's peasant troops were drawing
one in place of the deceased ruler.
The aristocracy enthroned the Austrian
up at Gyula. Dzsa "encamped on the field,
archduke, Ferdinand Hapsbursg in
alld ell1l1nerated his anny for the third time"
OF HUSAfN,BEYOF
the hope that his brother Charles V,
- rcported the chronicIer of the age, but SEALGYULA
(1600)
the Holy Roman Emperor, would heJp
w do not have any da ta about the siege
10 Ih fortress, Dzsa had heard about
them in their war against the Turks (and
the Hapsburgs would rule Hungary
Ih, nobility gathering at Csand, the nearby sertleuntil 1918),At the same time, the lesser nobilmont, therefore, he marched away with his army
1h
ity
chose Jnos Szapolyai, the the Transylvanian
(111 24 May. (The Memorial Plaque at 5-7 Dzsa
voivod, since he embodied the independence of
(: rgy Street treasures his memory.)
the nation to them. That double enthronement was
'1'11('Turks defeated the Serbian troops in the Battle
folJowed by savage fight. Gyula Castle felJinto the
III Rigm z and subjected thern to their dominahands of the Hapsburgs. The tOWJl,on the other
1/(111 in / 89. From that time on, people living on
hand, supported Szapolyai. ln 1552Ferdinand took
Ihl' south 'm borderland were in constant danger of
over Gyula once and for alJ, and from that time on
hl'illg ,lli,l ked by the Turks who tormented them
"Vg-Gyula" (a fortification along the borderline of
11'11
h l11('ir fl'cquent raids, It was only in August,
medieval Hungary against enemy attacks) started

Maros kze") was given up to the Turks who

settled down there, It became the seat of the Sanjak
of Gyula annexed to the Ejalet of Temesvr, Conquerors were followed by agle Turkish craftsrnpn
and merchants living almost exc1usively in towns.
Many of them settled in Gyula. A Turkish historian
described Gyula as a town inhabited by Turkish
and Hungarian people, with the Turks living in
separate quarters,
After occupying Gyula the Turks started to build
a lot 91religious buildings. ln 13 years they bulit
two ~tate houses of prayer (a djami and a minaret)
- one of them in the outer fortress, the other one
in the town -, in addition, there were five private
houses of prayer in the tOWJl:Bey Iszhk's and Ali's
djamies, Agha Mehmed's, Kethada lljsz's and Bey
Kurd' s mosques (smalJer temple), They equipped
a school for themselves in the town - as their dosest schools were in Arad and later in Vrad, For
the construction works they used the stones of the
churches found in nearby villages.
l, I ~ ISI I MIN!ATUREDEPICTlNGTHEOCCUPAT/ON
We know a lot about Gyula during the Turkish
'I (;YULAIN 1566
?---....
Domination from Cselebi Evila's description from
1" I'I'l'pare for the fight against the Turks. In
1664-1666,Cselebi was commissioned by the
1111'iurks occupied Buda, the capital, and wantd to
"Porta" (Turkish Covernmenr) to go to every counI IIIiquer more and more territories eastwards and
try of Europe and the Middle East and jot down
II t .,twards, After the surrender of Temesvr
everything he saw during his years of service.
1/ ,0,2)the southern part of Bks County
He wrote 10 bulky volurnes during his
11,1"ruled by the Iurks, further expanforty years of traveling. After depicting
II ,n was held up by Gyula Fortress.
Gyula Castle, he turns to the 11h cen"liHe years later, eJderly Sultan
tury town of burghers, to the suburb
ti rleiman started his third - and last
(that is the name he calJs it):
military expedition in summer of
"Although that is a fairly developed
I 1(16 (simultaneously with Szigetvr).
and dellsely populated suburb, it is not
IhM time the fortress was taken and
enclosed by ali four sides with stocklill' l29-year-Jong Turkish occupation
ades ... it has only one palisade Ali
unmenced.
the houses are timber-covered There
[STvNSZEGEDI
KIS
Ihe golden age of Gyula before the
0505-1572)
are
four districts altogether, with four
lurkish rule was in the 15-16th cenhouses of prayer. Khan Suleiman's and
luries, In 1525it had a population of almost 3000,
Bey Ali's djamis are nice djamis with lead roofing.
Aceording to the narnes originating in occupations,
Bey Ali, thefounder, is buried in this djami. Apart
JH% of the inhabitants were artisans and merchants,
from the above mentioned two djamis ... there
while 21 trades were represented in the town.
are no other buildings with lead roofs. It has nine
"zaous" (a building divided into small cells
THE PERlOD OF TURKISH eCUPATION IN
for students and monks), three "mendreszes"
GYULA 0566-1695)
(school for training rnonks), two monasteries,
With the surrender of the Fortress the whole area
three elementanJ schools and eleven baths. It has
endosed by the Krs and Maros Rivers ("Krs200 shops, three churches in the outer toum ... It is

l~~)

21

GYULAMONOSTORTl

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

A FRDVRDSIG

V AROSHZ STREET AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

ROMANlAN FaLK DRESS IN THE FIRST

HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY

GERMANS IN GYULA (1857)

weird to see that from one house to the other, from

one garden to the other, to the mili, for visiting their
friends or relatives everybody uses boats."
The region was often the scene of Turkish-Hungarian battles causing much destruction because Gyula
remained a "vgvr" for hundred years, until the
occupation of Vrad (1660).Still, it was not until the
15-year-war that the region was completely destroyed for the first time. Many of the demolished
villages were never again rebuilt. The Turks were
forced out from all territories behind River Maros
by the end of the 17th century, but Gyula Fortress
and the town were only freed a few years later in
1695.By that time there were 27 uninhabited settlements in Bks County.

NATIONALITIES IN HUNGARY IN 1855

22

HUNGARIANS

IN GYULA (1857)

FROM THE FORCING-OUT OF THE

TURKS TO THE BORGEOUS-DEMOCRATIC
REVOLUTIO N (1695-1848)

The desertedness of the region is certified by a lot

of records written after the Turkish occupation.
In 1698 the bailiff of the "Hofkammer" (the organ
of Hapsburg financial adrninistration of the 16th18th centuries) had been all around the area from
Gyulavri to Szentandrs and found merely ten
people in Bks. Life had to start from scratch on
that particuJarly savage territory.
Serbian soldiers stillliving in the fortress ransacked
the town in 1703,thus the few families that had
come back to the town fled again. Between 1703

,1I1d1711the country tried to win its independence

luck. (It is called the Rkczi War of Independence
origineting from the name of the leader). After
I 'Ight years of war, the battle for independence was
lost and the split from Austria was not successful.
I'l'population and the immigration of new settlers
IV,1 completed only after the War of Independ-nce, and Gyula's history after the Turks is to be set
110m1714 on.
I he Court considered the reoccupied territories
10 be their "newly gained" lands, and four-fifth of
Ihe county was given to the army contractor, Jnos
( oIjrgy Hamlckern for his merits.
When the first settlers - about 20 Hungarian families
arrved at Gyula in 1714,they built their houses
11Ilthe highest point of the town in the vicinity of
Ihe present parsonage. The Serbian soldiers remainIIlgin the fortress "adapted" some Romanian peopic to live with them in order to replace their losses.

TO GYULA SPA

After the elirnination of the garrison the Serbs left

Gyula. Some Romanian families were in service
at the Castle and lived dose to it. By doing so they
found ed a new district called "Romnvros" (Romanian Town), or - named after the patron saint
of the church - "Miklsvros" (Nicholas Town).
After 1724 the new landowner- grasping his legal
opportunity to do so - brought Gerrnans from the
Rhineland. The first bigger grou of immigrants
left Gerolzhofen (Bavaria) on 241 Aprill724 and
arrived at Gyula around Pentecost.
1111734the Germans elected their judge, and after
breaking away from the town, had their own municipal self-government "Nmet-Gyula" (Cerman
Gyula) for 123years. That is how the town was
divided into three parts: Beside the Hungarians in
the rniddle and "Nmetvros" (Cerman Town) in
the western half of the city "Romnvros" in the
eastern half carne into being. According to the census 116Hungarian, 100Gerrnan and 34 Romanlan
families lived in Gyula in 1730.
In the 18th century most people still earned their
living by raising livestock. Urbanisation, however,
soon changed the population's way. By 1724there
were 57 craftsmen in the town and they created 17
guilds by the 19th century. In 1737two of the county's six merchants lived in Gyula and this proportion did not change for long. Harrucken gained the
right of holding fairs for the city in 1723.Fairs were
the scene of the exchange of products produced in

IIROOS BRIDGE (1808)

23

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

the mountains and in the Great Plain. The golden

and some town-houses prove that the burghers had
age of the far-farned Gyula markets was the second
became more well-off by the end of the century. The
half of the 19th century.
first stage of the construction of the Palace also fell
From among the medieval buildings only some
in this century. In the 1790's the first surfaced road
managed to survive: the Castle, the Rondella
was completed between "Kapus" Bridge and
beside it, the Hussar Tower and the me~
the Palace. (It was the first pitched road in
dieval Bath built into the downtown
the county.) At the beginning of the 19th
school. The Turkish mosque and mina~ :century the first stone bridges replaced
ret built in the place of the present
the wooden ones: first the "Little"
parsonage were still in their places in
Bridge at the entrance of the Palace,
1772. Behind them there used to be a
later "Brdos" Bridge and "Kapus"
domed Turkish bath, a minaret and
Bridge - still in use today.
mosque in the garden of the Pala ce.
The thatched and shingled houses of the
These were pulled down in the 1740's
Great Plain were often ravaged by fires.
and 1750's. Descendants found and
Over the hundred years from 1782
COAT-OF-ARMS FROM THE
excavated a Franciscan church and
to 1882 there were altogether seven
TOWN HALL'S CElLING
monastery. Recently the basement walls
fires in the town. The one in 1801 was
DECORATION
of the huge parish church of medieval
the most devastating of ali. Fire broke
Gyula have come to light in Trkzug.
out in "Nmetvros" and destroyed the whole city
A precious relic from the first half of the 18th
including the churches and the Palace. The draftcentury is the house of the cantor, the school and
ing of ordinances regula ting constructions became
the Holy Trinity Chapel built in 1735.We can give
necessary after the fire. After it the square in front
account of more relics dating back to the second
of the County Hall was widened and today's triad
half of the century. The Roman Catholic Parsonage,
of Petfi - Erkel- and Harrucken Squares carne
the Roman Catholic and the Reformed Churches,
into being. In order to be able to defend the Castle,
the County Hall, the Schoolhouse in "Nmetvros"
construction works were not allowed on the right

HUNGAR1AN MARTYRS IN

24

1849

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

TO GYULA srA

TO GYULA SrA

IIUILDING OF THE LAW COURTS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

-lde of the street. That is how Marti Square, tod'lfs Szent Mikls (St. Nicholas) Park, was bom.
Wc inherited several Neoclassic buildings dating
luck to this era. Streets lined with sngle-storied
middle-class homes also reflect that age. That was
(:yula of the rniddle classes.
lhe rise of the bourgeoisie was manifested in other
torms, too. The town already had a caf at the end
Ilf the 18th century. It is calied the Hundred- Year
Old Confectionery today, and still preserves the
.imbience of social life of the Reform Period.
Apart from fire water also endangered the town. At
that time the Fehr Krs flew past Gyula and its
rises often flooded it. 179 houses collapsed in "Magvargyula" (Hungarian Gyula) in 1816.Another 203
tumbled down in 1843.
l'he second quarter of the century (1825-1848)is
t he so-called Reform Age since the most prominent
Iigures of the society aimed at getting rid of feudal
ronstraints and wanted the rise of the middle
rlasses. The politicallife of Gyula became livelier.
lnos Tormssy, the chief medical officer's son, was
one of the leaders of the 1832-1836"orszggylsi
Ifjak" (Youthful Parliamentarians). One of the
leading personalities of the progressive gentry was
Albert Rosty, the deputy lieutenant of the county,

Jzsef Etvs' fther-n-law (Etvs was a writer at

that time and Minister of Education later) ln 1841
the "Kaszin" (Casino), the forum of social life,
modelled on the one in Pest, was set up. And here
we are in the year 1848.
Cultural life was also bustling in that era. The first
school was built in 1735,and the stately downtown
school at the beginning of the 19th century. They are
still in their places, Two well-known personalities
Ferenc Erkel and the writer, Albert Plffy, were both
born in the first half of the 19th century. During the
Reform Period they held theatricaI performances
in the Palace. The first sanitary measures were
taken only in 1770, when the first doctor started his
practice in the town. In the same year the county' s

SAVINGS BANK ASSOCIATION IN BKS COUNTY

25

IltOM

GYULAMONOSTOR

TO GYULA SPA

CONTEMPORARY CMC INTERJOR (LADICS HOUSE)

first chemist's shop, Megvlt (Saviour) Pharmacy

opened. The building next to the main entrance of
the present hospital started to function as a hospital
in 1846.
THE REvOLUTION AND THE WAR OF
INDEPENDENCE (1848-1849)

The news of the Revolution in Pest on 15th March

1848reached Gyula by 20th, March. The residents
of Gyula crowded in the streets during the assembly announced for 22nd March and informed each
other about the events in Pest at the assembly held
in the yard of the County Hall.
A new Lord Lieutenant was elected, and since Hungarian army was non-existent, the Home Guard
was set up, which was already command ed to pull
down the riots in "Dlvidk" in [une. T11enew Lord
Lieutenant - a reformer politician named Baron
Bla Wenckheim was appointed in May.
Jn autumn [elasics' attack broke out the War of Independence. The Hungarian "Honvdsg" (army)
had to be organized urgently. The attack of the Austrians in December forced the Parliament and the
government to move to Debrecen. Gyula also took
its share in the preparation for the spring campaign
in the defence of the country. Guilds produced great

26

amounts of miJitary equipment, The town run an

industrial unit manufacturing gunpowder. During
the first months of 1849General Damjanich operated a military hospital for his 1hdivision in Gyula.
In the spring of 1849during the "glorious spring
campaign" the Hungarian army forced the enemy
out of the country again, but the army of 200.000
soldiers sent by tsar Nicholas of Russia to help
Franz [osef was too strong for the Hungarian army.
The War of Independence was lost.
At the end of the War of Independence the town
sawa tragic event. Disarmament took place at Vilgos. The miJitia officers were allowed to keep their
side-arms and were escorted to Gyula. Russian
soldiers occupied the present County Hall, Town
Hall, Lajos Kossuth and Nagyvradi Streets. They
set up tents in place of today's Szent Mikls Square
and quartered their prisoners there. General Anrep,
in charge of the captives, accommodated himself
in the Palace. The Russians treated Hungarian
officers surprisingly weil. They went to Restaurant
"Korona" (Crown) together, where they made the
gipsy musician play the "Rkczi indul" and the
"Kossuth nta"; no one thought that the captives
would ever be handed over to the Austrians. The
prisoners-of-war camp was alrnost unwatched.
From among the later "thirteen martyrs of Arad"
eight - ten according to indirect data - stayed in
Gyula. Generals were quartered in private houses.
(We will mention their billets in our detailed walks.)
On 21st August General Rdiger brought Paszkievics' order to disarm the generals of the Hungarian
army and hand them over to the Austrians. In the
morning of 23rd August the disarmament of 1300
- 2000 according to other sources - militia officers
started in the square between the Palace and the
Castle and it lasted for about 10 hours. The next
day, 24th August, Russians handed them over to the
Austrians who escorted them back to Arad where
Haynau's Vehmgericht was waiting for them.
FROM THE ABSOLUTISM TO THE FALL OF THE
MONARCHY (1849-1918)

The collapse of the War of Independence was

followed by Austrian absolutism in Hungary.
Bks County was first ruled by the King's commissioner, later by the Emperor's county chief. In
1854 Bks and Csand Counties were unified

FR.oM GYULAMONOSTOR

hlRMER LlTTLE MARKET AT THE BEGINN1NG OF THE

'Onl CENTURY

TO GYULA SPA

first signs of manufacturing industry appeared.

The first steam mill, later followed by others, was
built in 1866, match factories opened employing
cheap workforce. Finally, at the end of the century,
people of Gyula were also in the fever of foundation. Co-operative societies, share companies and
private enterprises were forrned one after the
other. From among the factories the most mportant was the one manufacturing stockings. With its
subsidiary company in Temesvr it was the biggest factory in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.
As a-r"esultof the accumulation and infIow of

.md controlled from Gyula. Gradually life started

10 grow freer. Jn 1852 theatricaI performances
were held in the count's riding hall. One of these
was conducted by Erkel who happened to stay in
( :yula, (his hometown) for his summer hoJidays.
I'he "Kaszin" - the center of social life - reopened
ln 1857.
Although Austrian autocracy served the Ernperur's purpose;', some of its achievements lasted for
long.

BUILDING OF THE FTNANCIAL OIRECTORATE OF GYULA

ln 1855,after the town's most devastating fIood

(including the farms as well, approximately 1.500
houses were under water), decision was made
011diverting the Krs from Gyula. In two years,
IH56-1858,the alrnost 19 kilometres long Krs
Canal was dig, and it is still the bed of the Fehr
Krs and partly that of the Ketts Krs. It was
Ihe biggest earthwork of the age of absolutism. As
,111outcome. today River Fehr-Krs fIows outside Gyula, while the old Krs still exists inside
Ihe city and it is called "lvz-csatorna" (Living
Water Cana]).
1111857agreement was reached with the inhabit.mts of Nmetvros and on 15th [une the minutes
onifying the towns was signed. Nmet-Gyula and
Magyar-Gyula became one city - today's Gyula.
Tyranny weakened by 1859. In 1867 the Austrians
.md the Hungarians carne to an agreement and the
Compromise was signed creating political basis
for bourgeois development. Hungarian economy
became part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy's
l'conomy.
Most people still earned their living by doing
farm-work. The main sector of agriculture, though,
was no longer livestock raising, but cultivation. In
1872the out-of-date guilds cJosed down and the

IN THE 1910s

THE BUILDING OF THE F1NANCIAL DIRECTORATE OF

GYULA IS TODAY THE ARCHIVES AND LAND OFFICE

27

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

capital, banks and co-operative savings banks

were established.
Transport, on the other hand, lagged behind the
requirements. The county did not have a surfaced
main road. The raiJway buiJt between Pest and
Arad in 1858did not reach Gyula. The town's
railroading began only in 1871with the opening
of the Nagyvrad - Fiume line. Still, it was Bkscsaba that became the centre of transportation and
that held the development of Gyula back: in 1887,
the town was only the fourth on the county list
with its 554 manufacturers.
The townscape also changed a lot. The great building operations at the end of the 19th century and ill
the first half of the 20th century still define Gyula's
architectural image. We can name only some
buildings of Baroque and Neo-classicist style. Romanticism did not really influence the townscape
either (the Town Hall built in 1860is the most
important example of that style), Public buildings
and private houses dating back to the beginning
of the 20th century, however, define the character
of some of the streets. Most of the public buiJdings

A THERMAL POOL Of THE CASTLE BATH

28

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

TO GYULA SPA

determining the townscape were built at that time:

the Court-House, the Palace of Finance Management, the pavilions of the hospital, the secondary
school, the higher elementary girls' school, the
Koml Hotel, the cinerna, the lodging-houses etc.
Elementary education was not homogenous.
Catholic, Reformed and Eastern Churches had
their own denominational schools. The higher
elementary boys' schoolopened in 1874,the secondary school in 1903and the higher elementary
girls' school in 1904.
Theatrical performances were heJd first in the
Pavilion, and later from 1901on, in the Summer
Theatre. Gyula has had its local newspaper since
1869.Dobay Printing House - founded in 1860
- had a prominent role in letter-press printing;
several authors - among them Sndor Brdy - published their first works here.
BETWEN WORLD WAR I
AND WOLRD WAR II (1920-1944)

Trianon Peace Treaty ended World War I and it

had grave consequences for Gyula: Transylvania

i'lJLK DANCE FESTJVAL NOWADAYS

was given to Romania and the Romanian border

was redrawn to 5 kilometers away from Gyula.
From among the 30 settlements serving as an economic background, only four remained within the
.ountry. besides, villages eastward and westward
had already belonged to Bkscsaba.
"he introduction and further development of
market-gardening (Bulgarian gardening) was a
special feature of local agriculture. The first Bul~arians doing irrigation in small gardens of 100JOO "ngyszgl" (about 357 - 714 square metres)

TO GYULA SPA

appeared in the town in the 1890's. Inhabitants of

Gyula learnt their method and improved it. Hungarian market-gardeners ("Bulgarian gardeners"
as they called themselves) irrigated bigger areas,
moreover, hothouse cultivation also appearsd.
Farmers of Gyula became well-known ali around
the country that time.
"It feels good to go along the banks of the Rver
Krs, engines are hummmg, water is gurgling
on arid earth, vegetable gardens are blooming"
- wrote Gza Fja at that time.
Industry. on the other hand, suffered the consequences of the economic decline. Master builders,
who had once worked even in Herkulesfrd
were present in large numbers, and they lost the
territories in Bnt and in the Balkan where they
had undertaken projects.
At the same time, there were also such favourable
developments as the expansion of the County
Hospital into an institution of national rnportance. The powdered milk factory was buiJt,
and sausage-making also became a sector of the
economy at that time.

I'ERFORMANCE AT THE POND STAGE

29

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR TO GYULA SrA

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR TO GYULA srA

Urbanisation of the county seat undeniably went

on: several public buiJdings were built, and the
inhabitants' pretty private houses still determine
the character of some streets.
Due to the bold allotment plan new districts came
into being: "Mriafalva" was created in 1920,
"Krinolinkert" in 1921 and "Calbcskert" the next
year. The "Krinolinkert" (Crinoline Garden) and
the later allotted "Kastlvkert" (Palace Garden)
became the town's most beautifuI suburb of villas.
The Museum reopened for the public in a new
place. Local publications inspired regional history,
Scherer's two-volume monograph and Endre Veress' archives are two of the bests. At the colony of
painters fine arts flourished. The season of theatricaI performances has always been an important
cultural event of the town.
For the promotion of tourism, cheap excursion
trains run on a regular basis to Gyula for pig-killing ceremonies. Late 1950's were not far off when,
with the ruruting of special trains Gyula' s tourist
industry flourished again.

BOATING

30

POND

NEXT TO THE CASTLE

TODAY' S GYULA
III 1950 county administration
was transferred to
Bkscsaba and almost a decade passed untiJ Gyula's new "face" was formed. As a result
of favourable local conditions and wellplanned city development, Gyula's Castle
Bath became one of the most popular spas
\If Hungary in a decade after finding medicinal waters.
K U l T
lndustry was represented by factories
M It G Y
V R o
processing agricultural products satisfying
2
o o
the inhabitants' needs: meat processing
plant, miJIing industry, stockings factory,
hoots factory and dairy plant. (Only the mcatprocessing plant remained after 1990). The last four
decades' biggest project was Gyula Meat Combine.
Iransportation went through changes as well. The
l1arrow-gauge railway crawling along Bke Avenue
was the vehicle of local public transportation until
1961. Buses run instead of it today. In 1963 - after
,1 break of almost two decades - trains run again
bctween Gyula and the adjacent town, Nagyszalonta. In 1971 a frontier station was opened on
lhe confines of the town for public traffic towards
Romania. !ts traffic has multiplied during the last
decades. Gyula had a population of 25.000 between

World War l and ll. As a result of immigration

from the 1950's on, and the town' s unification with
Gyulavri (with a population of 5.000) the number
of inhabitants increased. At present 33.000 people
live in Gyula.
(
The rapid growth of tourist industry made
the town much more attractive and helped
its development, too. The restored Castle
attracted visitors by itself. !ts reconstruction has just been finished, and a new,
R It
representative
Castle Exhibition opened.
A. R
S A.","'"
The thermal bath has been an attractive
8
force since 1958. Companies, institutions
built and build their holiday houses ll) the
town one after the other. The Castle Bath ll) summer is a huge tourist centre bustling with people
and innumerable vehicles.
For the population the p/aces of excursion and 1J0liday
resorts on the outskirts of the town are excellent
places for recreation. The division of the holiday
centres of V roserd into plots started in 1963.
Today hundreds of eottages line along the Fekete
Krs. At the junction of the two Krs Rivers a
holiday centre called Szanazug developed with the
woods of Doboz behind it.
The planned cultural programmes of Gyula Summer
await tourists eaeh year. The outeome of the addi-

FlAGS

AT THE TOWN

HAll'S

TERRACE

fHE STATE FlK

BAND'S

DANCE

GROUP

(2001)

31

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

tion of new programmes is that today "Summer"

lasts from the concert held on the first day of the
year until the open-air festival on New Year's
Eve, this way covering the whole year. Besides
the performances of the Castle Theater, we can
choose from more than 70 programmes - ma ny
of which last for more than one days - and
several institutions provide cultural entertainment. The new Cultural Centre was opened in
1975. The Ferenc Erkel Museum directs seven
exhibition venues; one of them is the Ferenc
Erkel Memorial House. Kohn Gallery opened in
1979, presenting the oeuvre of the town's Kossuth Prize winner painter. The building formerly
called the Town Hall, is now the beautifully
restored Municipal Library serving cultural
purposes.
The Castle Theatre, ranked among the country's bests, was put into operation in 1964 and
had a reputation for staging historical dramas,
long-forgotten plays and undertaking world
premires of new dramas. Today a wide range of
performances offer unforgettable experience for
everybody. It stages everything from operetta to
opera, from light to classical and folk music.
The number of festivals is increasing rapidly
and they attract large multitudes with their
spectacIes. Since the environment and the hotel
accommodation suit them, conferences are also
frequently held here.
Secondary school education extended: in place
of the old secondary school, there are three oth-

LIVING WATER CANAL, FORMER FEHR-KRS

32

FROM GYULAMONOSTOR

TO GYULA SPA

TO GYULA SPA

given to the city the next year: as a consequence

of its 700-year-old history, the weil protected
historical landmarks, the outstanding use of EU
resources in order to make the town more attractive, quality improvement of the city center, the
carefui support of public collections and the rich
cultural events, Gyula won the title "The Hungarian Town of Culture" in 2008.

rOWN CENTER

WATER TOURISM ON THE CANAL

ers now. Vocational schools can also be found

and higher education is represented by the training of graduate nurses.
Romanian minority has both its centre of selfgovernment and the centre of its cultural life in
Lceum Square and its neighborhood in Gyula.
The importance of the cultivation of the relations
with the Germans is emphasised and traditions
are observed again. Relations between sister
towns are getting closer in the spirit of bridgebuilding. Finally, we should not forget about
sport either, since that is a form of entertainment for thousands. The town's sport club was
founded in 1869 and it was one of the first in the
country. It offers colourful programmes from
tennis to motorcycle-race, The Sports Hall was
opened in 1994.
Rivers within easy reach attract anglers, and
recently facilities for horse-riding have also been
available. Boat ports necessary for water trips
have recently been finished along the Living Water Cana!. The smallest ones, the town's model
aircraft builders are multiple World Champions.
The center of the town has visibly changed in the
last few years. An only for pedestrians street and
a fountain system were forrned in the city center;

tcns of thousands of flowers are situated along

Ihe streets and as an outcome of years of work,
Gyula won the 1st place at "Flowered Hungary" in
lhe category of towns in 2007. Another prize was

fOR FLOWERY HUNGARY

We offer ali these - past and present - in the

shape of walks to the town's guests and wish
every Dear Reader of this tour guide a good time
in Gyula.

FLOWERY GYULA

33